This book is aimed at a professional audience of psychiatrists, psychologists, and educators, as well as Slavic studies scholars and teachers and intelligent lay readers. It would be presumptious to attempt to cover the entire field of Soviet psychiatry and psychology in one modest volume. During the past several decades there has been a remarkable flourishing and diversification of research in psychology and psychiatry in the USSR. What we have attempted to do in this symposium is to present a constructive critical overview of certain limited areas by arranging an interchange of observations and ideas between several American scientists knowledgeable in these fields and a psychologist and psychiatrist who obtained their education and working experience in the USSR. We hope to be able to expand such symposia in the future, so as to cover other important areas of these disciplines. This monograph presents an eyewitness account of Pavlov by W. Horsley Gantt, one of three surviving students of Pavlov, and, to the best of my knowledge, the only American who actually studied and worked with Pavlov. It is a measure of Dr. Gantt's devotion to the development of scientific psychiatry that he went to the USSR to spend six years in Pavlov's laboratory at a time of extreme economic hardship and political turmoil in that country and in the face of having to master a difficult language. In his presentation, Dr.

In the first extensive American study of child psychiatry in the Soviet Union, Dr. Nancy Rollins explains that her aim is two-fold: to expand knowledge of the theory, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders of children and adolescents and to stimulate a professional dialogue. Her attainment of this goal is clearly evidenced here by means of her astute assessment of the findings of her four-month visit to Russia as an individual investigator on the Medical Cultural Exchange program. The author's basic concern about the relationship between a society's child-rearing practices, character formation, and psychiatric disorder propelled her to ponder such questions as: Is there a describable difference between the Soviet conscience and the American conscience, as it develops during the years of childhood and adolescence? What about the problems of sexual identity in the two societies? Identity crises? Why have Soviet psychiatrists and educators remained so consistently anti-Freudian? In addressing herself to the various questions that intrigued her, Dr. Rollins first considers the history of Soviet psychiatric thought, with the major influences shaping the direction of Soviet child psychiatry and the social perspective with personal impressions of Soviet culture and society. Ensuing chapters, based upon first-hand observations and case material, take a close look at such topics as the organization of psychiatric services, diagnosis, general treatment methods, special psychotherapy, research, and psychiatric training programs. The author's reactions to the people she encountered in children's psychoneurological hospitals, polyclinics, sanatoria, and research institutions contributes a lively dimension to this impressive work. The study points out some differences between Soviet and American treatment methods; for example, Soviet treatment aims at inducing peace and relaxation in the patient, whereas American methods encourage exposure to and mastery of conflicts and tolerance of anxiety. Dr. Rollins also offers suggestions for further study and reflects on the relation of psychiatry and culture in the two countries.

Originally published in 1975, this title sets out to show us the differences between Soviet and other ways of thinking about nature, man, and society. The basic factor distinguishing Soviet psychology is that it views phenomena from the perspective of a highly articulated body of theoretical assumptions, and rejects the inductive ‘eclecticism’ of Western psychology. The theoretical framework within which Soviet psychology functions is the product of a distinctive socio-political and cultural development in Russia profoundly shaped by the institutions of autocracy and Orthodox religion, and the economic system of serfdom, and the radical revolt which grew up in opposition to this and advocated materialism, secularism, and atheism. This radical philosophic tradition in Russia, best represented by the writings of Chernishevski, fused with the doctrines of Marxism and the new science of behaviour developed by Sechenov and Pavlov to create the theoretical framework of Soviet psychology. The book also analyses the discussions, controversies, and decrees which are at the root of the contemporary science of behaviour in the Soviet Union, and points to the impressive body of empirical knowledge which has arisen. Soviet Psychology is unique in presenting Soviet psychology from an ‘inside’ point of view, and in making us appreciate the strongly theoretical stance of Soviet psychology which Professor McLeish claims is unlikely to be much influenced by the new atmosphere of détente.

Psychiatry, like most professional fields in Russia, gained its legitimacy from its ability to serve the Tsar and later the Bolshevik party. The militarised nature of these governments meant that psychiatry would have to prove its worth to the military. This study will cover Russian/Soviet military psychiatry from its first practical experience during the Russo-Japanese war to its greatest test during the Great Patriotic War 1941-45. Throughout this study, the continuity between Russian and Soviet military psychiatry will be emphasised. For example, psychiatry's materialist school dominated throughout this period and that Russia's acceptance that psychiatric casualties will occur allowed them to focus their resources on treatment rather than prevention.

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